Stress Management (Or lack thereof)
by Ilmare-Ilse
Summary: A Short post 8.06 Coda. Steve and Danny after Kamekona's. Danny needs some sleep and Steve needs Danny to be the same as he always was.


Notes: I want to thank my buddy Narkito, who once again was awesome enough to beta this silly thing, and make it a little better, as usual! In any case, any mistakes are mine! I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

About an hour later, Steve and Danny were finally heading home. Chloe had left with the promise (more like a threat for Steve) to send a comprehensive report about her assessment, and tips for improvement on what she considered "trouble areas" for Steve.

Steve was ready to call it a night, but he could see that Danny was still restless, torn between acting as his usual prickly self and following Chloe's suggestions.

He knew that talking about things had been a good idea, but he also knew how stubborn Danny was, and that he needed to give their conversation some thought before he could actually make up his mind to do as Steve asked.

Steve had offered to drive Danny home and then catch a taxi back to his place. He hadn't realized that Danny hadn't been sleeping, but now that he knew, he didn't want to be the reason for Danny losing any more sleep, even if he probably had it coming after the stunt he pulled that morning. Danny on the other hand, felt that he at least owed Steve a ride home, so he argued against it. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't do much when Steve just drove straight to Danny's.

* * *

"Wanna come in? Have a beer?" Danny asked, he wasn't looking forward to another restless night, so he figured he could hang out with Steve for a while, maybe drink enough beer to make it easier to go to sleep.

Steve studied his friend for a second, but finally nodded. "Alright," he said, opening the driver's door to follow Danny into the house.

Charlie and Grace were with Rachel for the week, so they didn't have to worry about keeping it quiet as they set up some beers and snacks and settled on the couch to catch some random game.

"Hey, the guy from the waiter call buttons called again. I told him we had to check some numbers before we could make a decision," Steve said, reaching for some chips.

He was surprised when he was met with silence. Danny had been very vocal about his hate for the button things, claiming that _'a classic Italian restaurant wouldn't need doorbells for the waiters. One of them would always be on the floor, so the customers would have no need for a strange gadget to catch the attention of their waiter.'_ But when he looked at his partner, Danny was sitting quietly, staring at his knees, lost in thought. "Danno?"

Danny shook himself, lifting his good hand to hold his arm above the brace, almost hugging himself. "Listen, you don't really have to do the restaurant thing with me. I know I kinda bullied you into accepting," he said quietly.

"You mean you used your superpowers to do evil?" Steve interrupted, glad to see that at least he managed to pull a smile out of his friend.

Danny rolled his eyes in amusement. "Yes, I may have annoyed you to death for the wrong reasons, and I realized that maybe it's not a great idea to drag you into a business that has a 60 to 80 percent rate of failure," Danny finished with a one-armed shrug.

It was Steve's turn to roll his eyes. "So Chloe said something about the restaurant too? You'd really kick me out of McDanno's because of something she said?"

Danny started shaking his head before Steve even stopped speaking. "It's not going to be called McDanno's, that's a ridiculous name, and I already told Kame to get rid of those t-shirts!" He said heatedly, deflating a bit at Steve's smirk. "All I'm saying is that you don't have to work with me on the restaurant if you don't want to. You don't need the stress, and I shouldn't have pushed you to do it with me," he finished in a rush.

"Oh, I get it. You're afraid I'll buy another cheap ladder," Steve continued to tease Danny.

"Sure, that's it. I don't want to mangle my other arm because of all the second hand stuff you're going to find for the restaurant," Danny played along halfheartedly.

Steve grew serious, reaching to pat Danny's knee. "Listen, if you really want me out, I'm out. As long as it's because I have been nothing but trouble or because you decided that doing this thing by yourself is what you really want to do. But I didn't sign up for this because I felt it as an obligation. I came to like the idea of our restaurant, and I'd like to give it a shot, even if we are doomed from the start," he said honestly.

Danny winced, lifting his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Damn he was tired, and maybe the sleepless nights were catching up to him, but he didn't have it in him to push Steve away from the restaurant. Maybe he'd try again some other time, but all the fight had left him right then.

"I don't want you out. I just don't want to make things worse for you," he said, reaching to take a drink from his beer and pointedly not looking at his partner.

Steve lifted his hand to pat Danny behind the head. "Don't be stupid, Danno. You're making things better," he said kindly.

Danny chuckled, rubbing his eye tiredly. "Okay then," he said with a shrug.

* * *

Danny wasn't sure when he nodded off, but suddenly someone was shaking him. _"Hey buddy, time to go to bed,"_ a familiar voice said.

Words were beyond him at the moment, so he just groaned in annoyance, pulling his arm away and slapping away at whoever was bothering him at the moment. _"Damn it, alright man, you can crash here if that's what you really want,"_ the voice murmured, leaving him alone so he could settle back to sleep.

The voice let him be for a while, but then came back. _"Alright Danno. Just be thankful that you have a big couch,"_ it muttered in annoyance. There was some rustling of clothes and then he was being moved to rest his head on a pillow. His bad arm was gently placed in a more comfortable position, and something soft covered his chest. _"Sleep tight, buddy."_

He was just drifting into deeper sleep when something made him tense. The start of a familiar nightmare, there was something wrong with Steve, and Danny was helpless to do anything.

Before it started to get really bad, someone was shaking him gently. _"Hey Danny. None of that. I'm here and I'm just fine. Go back to sleep, everything's alright buddy,"_ the familiar voice came again.

The nightmare was forgotten, and Danny went back to sleep.

* * *

He opened his eyes to sunlight coming through the windows. He was lying on the couch, covered with a blanket, and apparently had slept through the night. A look at his phone told him that he had slept through part of the morning as well.

Danny got up from the couch with a curse, only then noticing a note on the coffee table, left presumably by his annoying partner:

 _'Hey Danno, you looked like you needed the sleep, so I turned off your alarm. We don't have anything urgent in the morning, so take your time coming in. See you at the office._

 _XOXO Steve'_

Danny sighed in annoyance. He was glad that he wouldn't have to rush through his morning routine, since doing it with his bad arm would be a nightmare, but he didn't like people making decisions for him.

He would make his displeasure known once he got to the office, he decided, as he moved to the kitchen to get himself some coffee.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, Danny finally made it to HQ. He was surprised to find it empty. On a closer look, he could see some movement from his office, but he couldn't make out who was inside, since the blinds had been closed. As he moved closer, he saw Steve in there, pacing nervously.

Danny moved more quickly to his office, opening the door to see what was up with his partner. "Hey, what's going… on…" he trailed off at the sight of Lou, Tani, Eric and Noelani squished into his office.

Eric cleared his throat, and stood up. "Hey Uncle D. We are gathered here out of concern for you," he said, as if he was repeating a badly written script.

Danny lifted his eyebrows, turning to glare at Steve. "Concern for me? You have no reason to worry about me," he replied, turning to Eric again. "And why are you talking like a schmuck, huh? Who put you up to this?" He asked, already knowing the answer to his own question.

"Hey! I'm not talking like a schmuck! And for the record, Commander McGarrett said that you're not sleeping, so we got worried, that's all!" Eric replied, finally dropping his terrible act.

Danny took a deep breath, trying control his instinctive reaction. It wouldn't look too good if he strangled his nephew and his partner, all because of a misunderstanding. There were too many witnesses right there. "Well, you have nothing to worry about, I'm all better now, so there's no need for this whole thing," he said, motioning at the group still in his office. "In fact, you can all go on your way, since I have some reports to fill from our last case," he continued, motioning for everyone to move out of his office.

Lou, Tani and Noelani were smart enough to get the hint, but Eric and Steve remained. "Uncle D, we just thought you could use some help to work on your issues-"

"No! No way," Danny interrupted his nephew, knowing exactly what was coming, just by looking at Steve's face.

"-so we hired a professional to help you!" Eric continued in spite of his uncle's interruption. Matching Danny's volume to make himself heard.

Danny shook his head, turning to glare at Steve. "Please, tell me you didn't," he growled.

Steve just smirked. "Danny, we think that you've been under too much stress lately, so we hired a Stress Management Consultant to follow you for the day and make a full assessment. It's for your own good!" He said with a self-satisfied smile.

Danny hung his head, figuring that with the ambush he pulled yesterday, he had this one coming. "Of course it is," he deadpanned, bracing himself for Steve's payback.

* * *

The End

* * *

Notes: Thank you so much for reading!  
I needed to write something after Danny said all of that about not sleeping, so this coda popped up. He also deserved a bit of payback for putting Steve through an intervention, so I gave Steve the chance to get even.  
I'd really love to hear what you think of this one!


End file.
